Love is Blind season 4 hit Netflix last week and the public response to the different romantic arcs has already gotten intense, with many swooning over the couples seemingly destined to be together, and lambasting the contestants for making the worst decisions ever.
Zach is a criminal defense attorney, and has come to Love Is Blind with the same purpose as everyone else — to find true love with whom he can grow old together.
Along with a strong portfolio, Zach also carries with him a number of traumatic experiences and struggles with relationships as well as his own life growing up. He arrives at the show hoping to meet someone who can love him for the person he is.
The conflict
Zach makes a connection with two women — Irina and Bliss. His mother, he shares with both of them during the blind dating in the pods, was once a stripper and that’s how she made money and raised him.
Some of his relationships saw his partner’s family judging him for the way he was raised. This became a huge matter of pain for him, and he still hasn’t overcome these experiences. His journey on Love Is Blind is informed by a drive to find a partner who likes him for who he is.
He finds Irina and Bliss, two people he hits it off with really well and who show him a level of compassion he is truly touched by. While Bliss is the most caring, Irina seems to him as someone who also has had a similarly tough growing up and who is a fierce woman.
The fumble
Even though he admits he has a lot of love for Bliss, he still gravitates towards Irina, who as it turns out, is a can of worms most diabolical when she’s in the women’s living room. She’s vicious, something that Zach himself notes and tells her.
She also forgets his birthday and doesn’t care for it all that much when she learns about it, while Bliss not only remembers it but also makes cakes for him. Meanwhile, Irina tries to stir stuff up by approaching Bliss and asking for her candles when she couldn’t bother to remember a thing about Zach’s special day.
At the pods, she more than makes up for her ignorance by painting a rather pitiful image of herself in front of him, while also portraying Bliss in an antagonistic light that later informs Zach’s decision about her.
Bliss accepts that she doesn’t like Irina and gives her reasons for it, even making efforts to mend things with her for the sake of Zach, who’s conflicted between the two. He’s also unsure about Bliss owing to the fact that she values her family, and fears that their judgment might repeat what he’s experienced in the past.
Even having noticed all the negatives about Irina and having seen the efforts Bliss makes for him, Zach ends up breaking up with her and choosing Irina. He cries a river at the breakup before getting engaged to Irina and receiving the biggest shock.
Realization & redemption
Irina is nothing like the person Zach had thought of her to be when they were blind dating. It’s immediately obvious with the micro expressions to the obvious demeanor that she sports in his presence.
Right off the bat, she compares Zach’s face to that of a cartoon character. She goes on to make digs at his physique, even telling her best friend Micah that he gives her the ick every time he wants to make a move on her.
Throughout their stay at the Mexican resort, they don’t have sex, and all of his advances are met with almost hostility. Zach puts up with it all until it’s too much and he finally gives up on trying and salvaging an already sunk ship.
They call it off and while Irina has her eyes on none other than her best friend’s fiance, Zach decides to correct his mistake. He meets up with Bliss, face-to-face this time, in a restaurant. He admits his mistake and seems to be there to sort of ask her whether she wishes to give it another go or not.
Before she can comment on anything, Love Is Blind season 4 premier comes to its end. So Zach and Bliss’s potential relationship is only a question as things stand now, and only the future can tell whether they can make something out of a second chance or their story concludes here.
Also Read: Love Is Blind season 4 episodes 1 to 5 recaps & review